OTTAWA - A Conservative MP says anti-abortion activists need to support political candidates who share their views if they want abortion laws changed.

Rob Anders, a self-described pro-life Tory, says members of Parliament who have taken stands against abortion will face an uphill battle to retain party nominations going into the next general election in 2015.

And he told a March for Life rally in Ottawa today that activists should recruit people to get involved in nomination meetings.

The call comes as organizers of the protest march accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of shutting down any debate on abortion.

Thousands of people have gathered on the lawn of Parliament Hill in what has become an annual ritual designed to raise the abortion issue at the national level.

The issue sparked controversy recently in the form of arguments over how and when MPs make member statements in the House of Commons.

Conservative MP Mark Warawa has complained that his rights to free speech were curtailed in March when he was told he'd been taken off a speaker's list provide by the Tory whip.

Warawa wanted to make a statement in the Commons a day after a motion he proposed condemning sex-selective abortion was deemed by a House committee to be ineligible for a vote.